


To Raise a Chao

by Im_Not_A_Robot



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Comics), Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Behavior, Cute, Denial of Feelings, Domestic Fluff, Drama, Fluff, Freebie, Hurt/Comfort, I Will Go Down With This Ship, M/M, Metonic Ship Week, Parenthood, Robot no understand emotion, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-27 16:51:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20763713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Im_Not_A_Robot/pseuds/Im_Not_A_Robot
Summary: Love and care was something completely foreign to Metal Sonic, something that was entirely absent from his programming... or so he thought. Faced with the unorthodox challenge of caring for and raising a chao, Metal must learn the importance of feeling and providing such emotions. Can Sonic really help him understand just what love is? And on the way will Metal come to realize that this love is something he had felt all along for a certain someone?A finale for Metonic Ship Week 2019.Prompt: N/A (Freebie Saturday)-----------------------------------------------





	To Raise a Chao

Many mobians longed to see the fields and forests from the skies of their home planet. Some with certain features were naturally capable, but not many get to view the rolling landscapes of green hills and glistening lakes from the clouds. One particular robot got to witness such a sight often, but even as he flew from valley to valley it never sparked his interest to enjoy the wondrous sights he often saw. If anything, it was a distraction from his destinations. This particular flight was deemed no different.

Metal Sonic was in search of his organic counterpart for a race, a rematch of a previous one if you will. He's been starved for a challenge for many weeks now, his system's electrical signals spiking every day with frustration of mundane day-to-day routine. He can't stand it anymore, he needs a challenge and the only one who can provide it is Sonic The Hedgehog.

But even as he dashed from forest to forest, canyon to canyon, hovering briefly with each scan for the blue blur's biological signatures, he couldn't find his nemesis anywhere. His anger was only growing with every passing minute, smashing a fist into the occasional rockface and cutting down rows of trees with his laser to vent it. He was considering finding the nearest village and wreaking havoc upon it's inhabitants to get the hedgehog's attention before his scanner finally picked up the signature he's grown oh so familiar with over so many years.

He streamlined through the air towards the source with violent speeds, leaving a trail of jet-fire in his wake. His optics surveyed the grounds below as the trees eventually gave way to reveal a massive clearing atop a hill overlooking the coast, the clearing coupled with a sparkling blue pond pooled within a rock quarry. Laid back upon the emerald grass was the one he'd been looking for. Sonic had a smile on his face, hands laid behind his head as he seemed to be relaxing amongst a couple of wild chaos that played amongst one another.

Metal wasted no time and landed aggressively in a startling instance before the blue hedgehog, practically making him jump out of his fur. The surrounding chaos fled in panic at the robot who stood to his full height with a clenched fist.

Sonic looked up from his spot on the ground at his metallic copy, not expecting him in the slightest to show up out of no where in a place like this. "Metal? What are you doing here?" the blue blur frowned in a defensive demeanor, ready to hop up into action to protect these chaos with his life should his copy be here to cause trouble on Eggman's behalf.

"**SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, I CHALLENGE YOU TO A RACE, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY!**" the robot demanded whilst gesturing with a grandiose demeanor wanting to prove his superiority right here, right now.

Sonic looked the mechanical replica up and down as if registering any threat, only to realize that he was really just here to challenge him to a harmless race. Sonic 'tsked' before laying back down in his previous relaxed position, speaking up in a casual tone. "No way man." he smiled with his eyes closed.

Metal froze in his dramatic pose, his system buffering as if unable to compute the response.

"**N-.... No?**" the robot parroted, completely baffled that his nemesis gave him so apt a response so blatantly, it was one he wasn't prepared for at all.

Metal stared down at his nemesis in a more relaxed posture before shaking his head and getting riled up again, clenching a fist to the hedgehog. "**Why not!?**" his voice may be electronic but it certainly conveyed how upset he was to be denied a challenge.

Sonic opened one eye with a slight frown, looking at the robot who clearly wasn't going anywhere any time soon. He sat up with a sigh. "Because I'm waiting for my chao egg to hatch. Why don't you go and ask Robuttnik to give you some kind of a challenge, I'm pretty sure he can send you off to buy groceries or something... the challenge being trying to find prices that aren't insane... " Sonic was clearly speaking from experience.

Metal paused, his red eyes staring into Sonic's with confusion from the first part. "**A 'chao egg'?**"

Sonic smiled as he pat the spotted egg that sat next to him, Metal had been so focused on Sonic that he never even noticed the egg next to him. "Yup. Gonna raise this one to be a speedster like me." he pointed a thumb to himself with a smug look of pride.

Metal stared coldly at the egg that seemed to be garnering all of Sonic's attention. He crossed his arms with a mechanical whir of contempt.

"**This sounds to be a waste of time. You should be racing me so that I may prove my superiority to you. That is a much better use of your time. This 'chao egg' could never make you feel elatedly contested like I can.**"

Sonic flattened one ear in confusion. Was Metal jealous? He shook his head before bringing the matter to mind. "You honestly never once tried to raise a chao? I mean I know for a fact that Eggman's airship has it's own chao garden... for whatever reason... but you never thought of it?" the quilled mobian took the egg in his arms as he stood up to properly address his metal counterpart.

"**Of course not. There is no logical reason to raise a 'chao'. It is simply not feasible in any aspect nor does it aid in my combative capabilities.**" the robot, arms still crossed, glared at the egg in Sonic's arms. Just the shell alone was distasteful in appearance, how could his nemesis be so willing to waste precious seconds of his mortal life looking after it like some child?

"You really don't think there's anything to learn at all from taking responsibility of another life? It teaches compassion and liability, opens you up to a whole spectrum of new understandings and values." Sonic attempted to level with the badnik in some way to help him understand.

"**I have no need for such data, it is positively useless. I demand that you forget this needless burden of responsibility and race me.**" Metal stared Sonic down, not leaving without getting what he came for.

The hedgehog sighed. "Alright Metal... I'll challenge you."

Metal lifted his head sharply in slight excitement.

"But not to a race." Sonic smiled smugly at the robot who tilted his head in response.

"I challenge you to raise a healthy and happy chao!" he held out the egg in his arms to the robot.

Metal jerked in shocked disgust at the sheer nerve of the prospect. "**NEGATIVE. I refuse to take up such an unnecessary task.**" the robot turned up his nose at the egg.

Sonic pulled the egg back towards him. "Wow... I never thought I'd see the day. Metal Sonic, the so-called overlord of all living things can't even handle the simplest challenge of raising a living creature. Who knew that's all it would take to get you to back down in submission. Oh well." he turned to face away from Metal, unable to hide the massive cheesy grin on his face.

The badnik's eyes dilated in surprise at the statement as well as sudden embarassment. He raised a fist aggressively. "**DO NOT BE RIDICULOUS, SUCH PATHETIC A TASK COULD NEVER PROVE TOO MUCH TO ME. I accept your challenge!**"

Sonic whirled around with a smile. "Great! Then let's get started!" the hedgehog walked towards the rock querry where he halted next to a patch of flowers, Metal's eyes following the mobian before he moved after him.

  
The robot watched as Sonic gently placed down the egg in the patch of flowers, situated almost directly beneath one of the common fruit trees known to chaos. "If we keep it warm, it will hatch much faster, I hope you're patient Metal because this can take a while." he looked to said machine with an all-knowing look, honestly curious as to how he'll hold out with this 'challenge'.

"**I am capable of waiting long periods of time in a hibernating state to await opportune moments for combative ambush.**" Metal spoke in a proud tone, once again displaying his superiority over organic lifeforms.

Sonic looked through half-lidded eyes. "Uhuh... well... for now that's all we gotta do. Just wait." he sat himself down cross-legged upon the grass by the egg.

Metal watched Sonic's movements and copied him, also seating himself down cross-legged, wondering if this was part of some kind of ritual for the egg to hatch.

The two waited. And waited... and waited... Sonic eventually laying down with a yawn, and Metal moving to lie upon the grass on his stomach, holding his head in his hands as he continued observing the egg for the slightest movement. Eventually the robot ended up falling limp as he passed out into his mentioned 'hibernative state', Sonic also fell asleep.

Metal Sonic's scanners alerted him to movement which promptly brought him out of hibernation and he awoke to notice the egg was wobbling. He quickly sat up in readiness.

"**It is moving!**" he alerted his nemesis beside him who woke up bleary eyed, the hedgehog's full attention being drawn to the egg.

"Hoo... I didn't expect to fall asleep" he rubbed at his eyes as he sat up to watch the egg.

Both looked in anticipation as the shell slowly cracked, and soon after off popped the top of the egg, and a little blue chao crawled out, the top of the shell still on it's head like a little hat. "Hey there little buddy." Sonic spoke in a soft tone as he lifted the piece of eggshell up from the chao to look it in the eyes. The chao put a paw to it's mouth in curiousity before it gave a smile to Sonic. The little chao had sparkling purple eyes and a little pink stripe across her chest.

"Aww, she's cute." he lifted the little chao into his arms.

"**Where is it's exterior chassis?**" Metal questioned as he eyed the chao, the ball floating atop it's head forming into a question mark as it looked at him in curiousity.

"It doesn't have one silly. It's not a robot" Sonic chuckled as he cooed the little creature. "Aren't you just the cutest thing." the chao grinning and giggling in response. It then crawled out of Sonic's lap and made it's way over to Metal, the robot's red eyes watching the creature closely as it attempted to climb onto him.

"**I do not understand. What is so special about these 'chao'?**" he questioned, the chao not looking very comfortable in Metal's lap, the exterior cold and harsh in comparison to Sonic's fur and warmth of which the chao began crawling back to and climbing back into said hedgehogs lap again.

"You really don't feel anything just by looking at her? Don't you find her cute?" Sonic raised a brow at Metal.

"**I am not processing this apparent 'cute' you speak of.**" the robot kept his eyes on the chao as it seemed to get antsy and clambered once again off of the blue blur to wander off and interact with the other chao in the clearing, it couldn't sit still... kind of like a certain someone.

"Hmm... maybe that's something we can work on." Sonic wondered if he would even get anywhere with this... he challenged Metal but honestly his real goal was to try to help the robot understand emotions, hoping that might make the mech less hostile in the future thus less of a problem.

"**Why is there any need? Such is unnecessary as this 'cute' means nothing in the field of battle.**" the robot stood to his feet, eyes glancing at the abandoned eggshells in the flower patch for a brief moment.

"Well... this 'cute' is going to be needed if you want to actually feel the urge to give her love and affection instead of having to force it." Sonic followed to stand up as well, crossing his arms.

"**What is the point of this 'love' and 'affection', I am simply to raise this chao to be healthy and happy. Nothing but the most basic essentials in survival will be required.**"

Sonic shook his head. "No, no, you can't _just_ keep a chao alive. If you want to raise a healthy and happy chao, you need to show them love and care. They need to bond and be social. That means petting them, hugging them, feeding them and just overall showing them affection."

Metal seemed to ponder on this for a moment. "**There is no such information within my data banks. How am I to apply these.... special requirements?**"

Sonic was beginning to wonder if he actually challenged _himself_ and not Metal, this isn't going to be easy at all if the robot can't even grasp the concepts of social bonding. "Well... love for example... it's like.... uh.... like when you want somebody in your life. You want them to be there for you when you need them, you want to protect them and keep them safe; you _care_ for them."

Metal just stared unresponsively, still not quite understanding. Sonic scratched at the back of his neck. "Well uh.... let's just... start at the bottom. We should feed her, she must be hungry." Sonic looked over to their chao who was playing with some of the other chaos.

"**Yes. Organisms require sustanence to maintain long-term survival. What do these 'chao' consume?**" Metal tilted his head.

Sonic looked up at the tree they were standing next to, orange fruits held at the very top. Metal followed his gaze to the fruits and immediately acknowledged that these fruits must be part of their diet. He powered his jet and floated up, grabbing one of the fruits and pulling it off from the tree before landing back upon the ground. Sonic smiled at him.

"Alright, now you need to give it to her." the hedgehog gestured to where their chao was. Metal looked at him in hesitation and then looked at the fruit in his hand. He turned to walk towards their chao who appeared confused when her playmates fled from Metal's approach, still scared of him from his abrupt landing on the site earlier.

The chao looked up at Metal with a question mark, the robot's glowing red eyes looked down at her with a menacing appearance as he towered over the small creature. He knelt down with a whir of his joints and then held out the fruit to the chao. She seemed to stare at it for a moment before hopping towards it and grabbing it into her stubby paws gleefully. She sat back and began to munch on the fruit.

"**Mission: Feed chao - Successful.**" he stood back up again and turned to Sonic who gave him a thumbs up from his spot at the tree.

The rest of the evening they had simply sat and watched the chao play from their spot on the rocks. Sonic swinging his legs over the ledge as he smiled over how nicely this day actually went in spite of his killer robot rival crashing it. "I really love watching chao play together." he began.

Metal simply watched said creatures as they played tag with one another and shared fruits. "They're so innocent... completely cut off from the troubles we face on our end... well... my end mostly. No offense." he smirked at his copy who gave no response, simply watching the chaos. "I find it so relaxing just to be around them... I've raised a few in the past back when i had more time to devote to their care... it's been so long and only recently I've dared to try and raise one again." the hedgehog looked towards the sky above, the blue of the early day giving way to the orange of the setting sun.

"With your help this one should be a breeze and maybe I can train her to stay at home with me even." Sonic brought his fingers to his lips in thought.

"**Negative. I am only raising this chao to prove to you that I am truly superior and that I can and will raise it to be both healthy and happy, though this challenge is much slower in pace than previous ones... " **Metal clarified coldy.

Sonic's smile fell to a more saddened expression. Metal is still not getting it, he still only sees this as just another competition and not something to truly find joy and peace in. The mobian sighed telling himself that it was all a work-in-progress. He's sure to get to Metal somehow...

"Tell you what!" Sonic put a smile back on his face finding no point in being miserable. He hopped up to his feet and turned to Metal. "How about we meet here again tomorrow and let's see if you can _really_ handle all of the requirements of raising a chao. Hm?" Sonic crossed his arms, knowing that the only way to make sure Metal sticks to this whole thing is if he still sees it as a challenge from his rival.

The robot stood to his own feet. "**Affirmative. I will be successful in this endeavor and you will finally admit that I am superior. I have also deduced that there may be some data that can in fact be useful to me from this challenge for future applications.**"

Sonic smiled, holding onto hope that he'll get Metal to see what it's like to truly feel emotions other than hate and anger eventually. "Then it's settled. We meet back here tomorrow at noon. See you then." Sonic called out as he made a dash for the woods, disappearing in a blue streak out of sight.

Metal watched the trail of blue fade, his eyes turning to look at the chaos that were falling asleep for the night. Was it really safe to just leave them alone out here like this by themselves? Metal shook his head wondering where that thought of minuscule concern even came from. He powered his jet and without a second glance at the garden flew back to Eggman's airship on the other side of the valleys.

He will win this challenge, no matter what it takes.

  


\----

  


The sun had reached it's peak within the azure skies above, the warm temperatures welcome by local denizens that dread the cold approach of Autumn. Metal had retraced his route the previous day to find the wild chao garden once again as per Sonic's given schedule of meeting. Eggman was far too distracted with his latest scheming to notice Metal's absence; the robot hasn't been being used very often for this plans these days... he's mostly just been an errand bot for the past few months, fetching tools, supplies and of course food for his master upon request...

  


He hates it.

  


Nevertheless he doesn't miss that rusty airship one bit as his optics pick up the clearing he recognizes from yesterday. Slowly powering down his jet as he descends, his eyes meet Sonic's, the hedgehog proceeding to wave up at him while in the midst of playing with the small chao creatures, obviously having been waiting for the badnik's arrival this whole time.

"Part of me thought you wouldn't come back." Sonic, cross-legged upon the grass and practically covered in chaos, gave an all-knowing look to the robot.

Metal landed much more quietly than he had the day prior and slowly approached his nemesis before seating himself down as well. "**I would never back down from a challenge, such cowardice is beneath me. I have returned as planned.**"

The mobian's eyelids dropped halfway in disapproval. "This isn't _just_ some silly challenge Metal, you need to learn to really enjoy raising this chao." he then picked up one of the creatures into his arms, Metal didn't even recognize it as theirs at first until he recalled her unique features, they all look the same to him.

"**Such effort on your part is meaningless and will only bring me victory in beating you." **Metal held his hands down in his lap as he leaned forward with attentiveness.

Sonic scrunched his muzzle in uncertainty. "You can't actually _beat_ me at this Metal, we're both raising the same chao."

"**I will raise it better.**"

"She's not an 'it', and it's not about being bette-"

"**She will love me more than you.**"

"That doesn't define any kind of victor-"

"**I am the superior dad.**"

Sonic sighed, his patience already being tested. He stared at the robot with annoyance and they both locked eyes for the longest time before the hedgehog decided to just forget it and change the subject.

"... Anyway.... I already came up with a name for her." the blue blur smiled while stroking the chao on the head, the little critter clearly enjoying the affection.

"**...**"

"Her name is now Arii!" Sonic smiled proudly.

"**That is a horrible name...**" Metal responded coldly, Sonic completely taken aback.

"What? No it isn't! It's beautiful and she likes it."

"**Her name should be Destroyer.**"

"Are you serious?" Sonic wished he could believe that the robot was joking.

"**Annihilator?**"

"..."

"**Winged Harbinger of Doom?**"

"Where are these names even coming from?" Sonic stopped the robot before he continued any further.

"**Doctor Robotnik names all of his inventions similar things. He is a scientific genius and clearly is more tasteful in naming than you are.**"

Sonic stared tiredly at the mech. "... Her name is Arii."

Metal crossed his arms. "... **Fine.**"

Said Arii tumbles out of Sonic's lap and crawls towards Metal. The killer robot glares down at her curious face when she sits up to meet his gaze. The chao puts a paw to her mouth as if little thinking gears were turning in her head. She gurgled some noises as she tapped on Metal's leg. The mech's eyes glance up to Sonic for a brief moment before returning to the chao.

"**What does it want?**"

Sonic puffed his cheeks out before exhaling sharply. "Once again, she's not an it... also I'm not quite sure."

The two watch Arii as she circles around Metal, the robot craning his head to keep his eyes on her as she circles him, quickly switching to look over his other shoulder when she circles too far from behind him. He watches as she seats herself in front of him and looks up to meet his gaze

"... Maybe she's just... curious?" the speedster wondered.

Arii taps again on Metal's leg. The robot looks to Sonic. "**Tell it- ...**" he catches himself** "Tell her to stop.**"

Sonic lays down onto his stomach to get to the little chao's level smiling to her. "What do you want Arii? Is Metal scary?"

The badnik beeps proudly at this. "**Yes, I am very scary. All should fear me.**" Sonic deadpans at Metal.

The chao looked like she was getting frustrated, tears welling up in her eyes. Sonic sighed. "Great, now look at what you did Metal, you made her cry."

The robot, arms still crossed, turns his head "**Good.**" earning a frown from his nemesis.

Arii crawls over to a tree and stops, the two blue characters watching her as she turns to them and points up, sniffling. Their eyes look up to the fruits she is clearly pointing towards. Sonic face palms. "Ooooh! NOW I get it!"

The blue hedgehog hops up to his feet and looks down at his copy. "She's hungry and was asking you to feed her. You were the first one to give her food so she must have associated you as the one who feeds her."

Metal Sonic gets up to his own feet. "**Yes, optimum survival requires regular sustenance. 'Tapping' behaviour has now been added to my data banks as "feed me".**" the mech walked over to the tree. Sonic couldn't tell if Metal was being sassy there for a second, if that's even possible for him, or if the robot actually is _that _straight forward.

Metal pulled a fruit down from the tree and knelt down to Arii who excitedly reached up for the fruit with a cute smile on her face... but Metal wasn't giving it to her. Sonic stared in confusion as the badnik just held the fruit just out of her reach.

"... What are you doing? Give her the the fruit."

Metal seemed to just stare at the eager chao, his eyes just watching her with some sort of feeling he couldn't quite pinpoint as she excitedly preformed little hops for the fruit... and that happy little smile. His circuits were overloading with confusion and he falls back on his haunches, his arms dropping limp at his sides as he suddenly stares off in some state of confusion.

Arii just happily walks over to Metal's hand and takes the fruit out of the robots grip herself and sits to munch down on it.

Sonic cautiously walked over to the mech. "Uh... Metal?" the robot turned his head to look at his counterpart.

"**I have just experienced some sort of malfunction with my stimulus modem. I believe that I require repairing.**"

The mobian furrowed his brows in confusion. "In English please?" earning only a tilted head in response. Sonic's eyes then widen in realization. "Ooooh...." he grins almost wickedly in an 'I-told-you-so' manner. "I think you just experienced what it's like to find something cute, am I right?" he placed his hands on his hips.

Metal looked back at Arii who was chowing down on the fruit. "**Can this 'cute' be described as an odd form of 'joy'?**"

The hedgehog pondered for a moment. "That's actually a pretty good way of putting it. It is like some kind of strange happiness of sorts."

Metal stood to his feet. "**... This inferior emotion was one that I did not know I could develop within my A.I.**" red glowing eyes looked down at Arii again. "**I will have the doctor remove it from my system when I return.**"

"What? No!" Sonic quickly panicked and held out his hands to the robot as if that alone would halt his plan.

"It's not bad to find things cute, in fact I'd say it's _extremely_ important and vital to a healthy state of mind. I swear Metal if you delete that emotion from your system I will personally dismantle you myself." the hedgehog aggressively pointed a finger to his copy.

Metal looked at the pointing hand then to Sonic's gaze. "**I do not understand you organics.... but... this 'cute' did feel nice.**" the machine looked to the ground in thought before he once again turned to his counterpart. "**Fine, I will retain this emotion. But only to ensure that it will enforce my victory over the raising of this chao.**" he crossed his arms.

Sonic sighed in relief, feeling like he had just stopped a ticking time bomb. He really wants to make Metal understand emotions, he can't do that if the robot just keeps deleting them all. He wiped his brow and then held his hips with a smile to the bot. "Good. Trust me you won't regret it."

  


\----

  


The two spent a few more hours in the garden spending time with Arii, Sonic actually began to try and help her walk instead of crawling everywhere, Metal finding amusement with how annoyed the chao was at this new 'training'.

At some point the two ended up seated upon the rock quarry once again, Sonic holding a different chao in his arms this time, the little one having came up to him playfully. Not too long after and a few other curious chaos came crawling or walking along to the hedgehog and robot. Two particular chaos took an interest to Metal, one of them climbing on top of him. Sonic found them all so adorable but Metal only continued to stare or watch with the utmost apathy as the chaos crawled over him and climbed onto his head.

Suddenly his sensors picked up distress and his eyes quickly darted over to the pooled waters to find Arii had wandered off into the waters and was now struggling to stay afloat. Metal shot up to his feet, the chaos on top of him falling off to the ground from the movement where they bounced harmlessly but in a minor daze.

"**Sonic our chao is in danger.**" The robot stated quickly in alertedness.

Sonic quickly looked over where Metal was looking, readying himself for the worst case scenario, only to see Arii was in the water having difficulties swimming. The hedgehog relaxed and looked to his metal copy with an understanding smile. "Oh, she's fine Metal. That's how chao naturally learn to swim in the wild. Their very guardian, Chaos, is practically made of water... at least I think... "

Metal beeped with audible displeasure "**... Must she learn in such a state of danger?**"

Sonic lowered a brow at the mech. "This is the most natural way for her to learn, we shouldn't interfere with her natural development." Sonic continued to pet the chaos that swarmed him for attention. "Are you.... worried about her?"

The machine clenched his fists and stared at Sonic. "**... Of course not... I was... merely making an observation.**" The robot sat back down. Sonic smirked before bringing his attention back to the chaos.

Metal however couldn't relax, his electrical sensories wreaking havoc upon his A.I as his scanner kept alerting him of their chao's distress, his optics constantly darting over to the chao who still struggled in the waters. Why was Sonic just letting it happen? It seemed so out of character for him... how is this natural? This doesn't even seem safe... so many thoughts were overloading his processor and one last look at Arii with a face full of fear was all it took for him to move.

Sonic was startled when Metal flew past him to the pool, the badnik rushing into the water where he picked Arii up into his arms without hesitation. Sonic placed the chaos down off of him and stood to his feet to look to Metal.

The robot glowered at Sonic darkly from his spot in the water. "**I do not like this method of teaching.**"

The blue hedgehog's lips parted in disbelief that Metal actually went out of his way to 'save' their chao. He couldn't stop the gentle smile creeping up onto his face that Metal really did seem to care in some way for Arii. He shrugged, raising his brows as if blissfully giving up on Metal just letting her learn to swim naturally. "I guess we could find some means of teaching her to swim ourselves..."

Metal continued to glare at him before his eyes lowered to look at the chao in his arms. She smiled up at him sweetly and his red eyes dilated slightly at the adorable look, the whole 'cute' emotion kicking in again. He stepped out of the waters, thankful for his hydroresistant chassis as he gently placed Arii back onto the grass where it was safe away from the pool. She crawled over to go play with the other chaos.

Sonic stood next to the mech and elbowed him playfully. "Come on, you can't tell me now after that that you don't actually care for her well-being."

Metal seemed to have been unable to perceive just how out of character that whole event was. He looked to Sonic in surprise knowing now that he had to defend his pride. "**N-Nonsense! My scanners indicated that her life was in danger and if I am to raise her to be a happy and healthy chao, I must keep her alive and well. That is all.**"

Sonic smirked. "Right... even after I said that chao naturally learn to swim that way all the time..."

Metal whirred irritably, turning fully to face his rival, clenching a fist towards him. "**I do not need inferior emotions in order to acheive an end result! I can logically produce a desired outcome without such distractions. 'Acting' is well within my database.**"

Sonic narrowed his eyes . "Right, and is that word just beneath 'Lair' in your database? Look, these so-called 'inferior emotions' are actually very joyful things... far better than your other emotions like... hatred... and rage..."

Metal dropped his arms and pointed to the ground in front of him with intent "**Do not be ridiculous. There is nothing better than the feeling of absolute power that rage allows me to perceive. You are just far too inferior to understand.**"

The blue speedster facepalmed, wiping the hand down his face in exasperation before his expression turned serious. "Look haven't you ever been hugged your whole existence? Like at all? Not a single pat on the head or even so much as a handshake?"

The robot tilted his head, eyes brightening briefly for a second in confusion. "**No, I have not. What good is there to it?**" he asked genuinely wondering if there was some form of benefit he was missing out on in regards to this 'hugging' and 'handshakes'.

Sonic's face suddenly fell to one of slight sadness, feeling bad that Metal struggles so much to grasp the simplest acts of kindness because they just were never shown to him. He scratched the back of his head, not quite sure how to handle this.

"Okay... uh... well.... what if I gave you a hug and you can experience it for yourself?" he winced at the fact that he actually went and said that; it sounded so much better in his head.

The badnik stared in silence, making the air grow uncomfortable. "**I am willing to accept this experiment for analysis.**" Arii had finished her fruit a while ago and was simply watching between the two now, looking from one to the other.

Sonic felt slightly relieved that it couldn't have been that bad or strange of an idea if the bot was willing to give it a try. "Alright..." he took in a breath and simply braced himself for however unpredictable a reaction he might get from the robot. He quickly approached Metal and wrapped his arms around him, holding the embrace for a few brief seconds before releasing him and stepping back.

The mech seemed to just be staring off into the distance rather unresponsively. Sonic raised his shoulders "Well?.... How did you feel?"

"**... That was intrusive.**" Sonic almost laughed at the sheer bluntness of the robot, relieving any tension he felt about the act.

"Maybe it takes some getting used to?" the hedgehog shrugged.

"**Do it again.**" The request surprised Sonic.

"... Huh?"

"**Preform this 'hug' again.**" Metal stared sternly, crossing his arms.

"... O-.... okay..." Sonic wasn't sure what he expected but certainly not for the robot to request a second hug. He approached Metal and once again held him in an embrace, this time holding it for a longer period of time.

The mobian thought it weird how natural this felt to him, despite how uncomfortably cold and just... well plain uncomfortable Metal felt against him. His heart almost stopped though in fear when he felt two metallic hands snake around his back and embrace him in return. His eyes darted around as if looking for an escape route if this turns badly... but Metal never did anything beyond just hugging him back.

It didn't last long though as the machine quickly released the hedgehog and turned away from him, red eyes staring at a spot on the ground. Sonic was kind of shocked at the quick retreat the robot made and looked to his copy who seemed to be refusing to look at him. "Uh... So... " he started.

"**........ I believe that my purpose is done here for today.**" Metal stated blatantly. Then, without even looking at Sonic he powered his jet and sped off into the sky, hovering briefly in the air before blasting his jet off in the direction back to Eggman's airship.

"HEY! WAIT!" Sonic called out but it was too late before Metal was completely out of sight. The hedgehog continued to stare into the sky his face absolutely covered in confusion.

Arii had crawled up to Sonic and tugged on one of his socks, the mobian looking down at the worried chao. He picked her up into his arms and pat her on the head, eyes staring down in thought. "What was that all about?... " he spoke to no one in particular.

The next day Metal didn't show up... he didn't show up the day after that either... or the day after that...

However, the following week, Sonic was surprised to find Metal Sonic actually at the garden before him when he arrived. The robot was actively interacting with the chao and actually petting them instead of just staring off into space and letting them do whatever they want with him. He looked up to Sonic's approach and ignored the chaos to stand up and walk over to him.

Sonic crossed his arms and twitched an ear, his body language demanding an explanation for the robot's absence. Metal broke eye contact from him, looking about as shy or embarrassedf as a machine potentially could.

"**I.... wish to learn more about this... 'affection' and 'love'.... will you... teach me?**" he finally managed.

The blue hedgehog could only smile as his heart warmed over. Finally he was truly getting through to Metal... perhaps this really won't be as impossible as he thought it would be.

  


\----

  


Sonic had ordered Metal to seat himself somewhere in the garden, Arii in the hedgehog's arms. "Alright Metal... first things first... you need to understand that affection and love is pretty much a requirement for... well... I guess not all but the _majority_ of living things." he held out the happy and curious looking chao. "Arii is no different, so I'm going to teach you how to give her affection and make her happy."

The robot stared up at the chao from his seated position, his hands in his lap. "**This is not what I meant whe-**"

Sonic interrupted him by putting Arii down in front of him. "Alright, so most chaos like to be held, she seems to like it as well. So why don't you go ahead and hold her in your arms just like I was doing."

Metal stared down at the chao who formed a question mark above her head at the mech. He looked up at Sonic, the blue speedster gesturing excitedly for him to 'go on'. The robot looked back to the chao before he reached his hands towards her, stopping half way in hesitation and uncertainty before proceeding to pick her up and pull her into his arms.

He stared down at her. Arii seemed to stiffen, mostly confused as to what is going on. She eventually begins looking around as if searching for a way out of his arms, she seemed to have some kind of little grimace and looked very uncomfortable.

Metal looked to Sonic. "**She does not like it.**" he stated bluntly.

Sonic scratched at his head wondering what was so different with the chao's relationship to him and his metal copy, they both were present when she hatched so they both made the parental impression or something...

"Maybe you're too cold for her?" he thought.

Metal looked back down at the now struggling chao in his grasp. He activated his thermal regulator, increasing his internal and exterior temperature. Arii continued to struggle for a bit looking like she was about to cry in frustation before she slowly stopped. She seemed to lay still, her expression returning back to her typical happy self as she relaxed in the robots arms.

"There you go!" Sonic applauded.

Metal tilted his head at Arii, the chao actually starting to snuggle up against his warmth. "**This... is.... weird....**" the robot stated as he quickly held out the chao at arms reach in front of him, not used to such gentle treatment.

"Hey man you're doing great." Sonic gave a thumbs up. The chao was trying to get closer to Metal's core again where he was warmest, the robot still holding her out away from him.

"**It feels wrong. How do you enjoy such.... non-hostile actions?**" Metal felt a little repulsed at his own unnatural acts of 'affection' of just holding the creature gently.

"I think it's just something you'll need to get used to." the speedster shrugged. "How about we move it up a bit? Why don't I show you how to play a game with her? You know tag right?"

Metal looked to Sonic, then back at the chao, then back to Sonic. He put Arii down on the ground and stood up to face his nemesis. "**No. This is not what I meant when I said 'teach me love and affection'.**" he crossed his arms.

Sonic seemed taken aback. "Wha-... But.." he lowered a brow. "... Well, what _did_ you mean?"

Metal approached closer to him. "**I meant teach me more about love and affection.**"

The hedgehog lowered an ear. "I... am..." he was confused as to what his metallic copy was asking.

"**No. Teach me like you had done before... with that 'hug'.**" he stared into his rival's eyes. "_**Show**_** me.**" the robot struggling to phrase his wording for the mobian's comprehension.

"..." Sonic went silent. The gears in his head struggling to turn as he tried to understand what Metal was talking about and if he heard that correctly. "... Show you?"

"**Hug me again!**" he demanded, now impatient with his counterparts incompetence.

"What!? No! I've hugged you like two times already, why do you need a third?" Sonic retorted, the robot was being ridiculous now. "You can't just hug someone every 5 minutes."

The robot leaned back with a tilt of his head. "**Why not? If it is supposed to feel nice then why do you not do it multiple times?**"

Sonic furrowed his brows "Because it's weird? You gotta set boundaries man."

Metal seemed to pause at this, his eyes shifting to the side as if considering. He returned his gaze. "**Then how about one hug but do not let go?**"

The hedgehog crossed his arms, the robot's perception of everything was rather childlike for a highly intelligent machine. "I think what you're talking about is cuddling."

The mech tilted his head again. "**What is 'cuddling'?**"

Arii had been sitting in the grass with a couple of other chaos, just watching the altercation between the two in curiousity. Sonic laid his ears back kind of forseeing where this is going to head. He took a deep breath and sighed... he _did_ want to teach Metal emotions, he kind of knew it wasn't going to be very straight forward.

"Alright... well.... cuddling is like.... like..... well it's a hug essentially... but you keep doing it?" was he even explaining this right?

Metal looked to the ground, processing this information before glancing back up at his nemesis. "**I would like to partake in this 'cuddling'.**"

"..." Sonic's first reaction was to pick up Arii and hold her out to the robot.

"**NEGATIVE! I command you to show me!**" Metal for some reason seemed to only be getting anything out of this affection thing through his nemesis.

The mobian tried not to show how nervous he was getting about this 'tutoring' session of theirs. "I-I- well- You see... uh... usually only lovers will cuddle with eachother." he hoped that would deter the copy.

The mech stared at him. "**Then how do I make you my lover to do so?**"

Sonic practically choked on his breath, sputtering with a blush forming on his cheeks. "WH- WHAT? UH- WELL-" he panicked, this had gone way offrails. "W-well I... you... do you even know what you're saying right now!?"

Metal clenched a fist at the hedgehog. "**You said that you would teach me these 'emotions'! I am willing to learn and now you refuse to do so?**" the mech didn't really seem to fully grasp what a 'lover' was.

"Trust me Metal, you don't even 'love' me. I know you don't understand the concept and you're just confused. We can try something else." Sonic was trying to gain a foothold again over this conversation that seemed to have gone way out of hand.

"**How does one even know if they 'love' someone?**" Metal crossed his arms getting impatient about this whole thing. He just wanted his hug again because it felt nice, why must it be so difficult?

With ears once again laid back, Sonic fidgeted with his fingers as he tried to think of a response. "U-um.... well... when you love someone... you get really excited when you see them. You enjoy talking with them and doing things with them no matter how menial it is.... uh... you want to keep that person safe and protect them, you want them to be yours and only yours, to belong to you essentilly. Umm..." Sonic tried to think of more ways to describe it.

"Y-you really miss them when they're not around, you're basically addicted to them... you uh... you feel like your sense of self grows around this person.... you uhh think about them a lot, you like everything about them and feel connected to them." he scratched his head. How _do_ you really describe it?

He looked to Metal who was just staring at him in complete silence. Sonic's gaze shifted around awkwardly before falling back again on Metal, the robot still seemingly unresponsive.

"..." the hedgehog bit his lip nervously at the robots silence. Did he understand all of that? "So uh... yeah that's... that's about how I'd describe loving someone." he never thought he'd ever have to explain this kind of stuff to Metal Sonic of all people... er, robots.

Said robot was still unresponsive. Sonic was a little concerned... did he shut down or something? "Uh... Metal?" he asked. The only sound that could be heard was silence, nothing really but the wind and faint babbling chatter of a few chao around the garden, but otherwise, silence...

Metal continued to stare into Sonic's eyes for the longest time, seemingly hesitating before finally breaking the stillness of the air. "**... I love you.**"

"..."

Sonic's heart practically jumped into his throat, his voice completely paralyzed. He wasn't sure if his blood was running cold from fear or adrenaline.

"W-...." He couldn't find his voice, his face was probably beat red. Nobody has ever just said that to him straight as is before... not even Amy.

Metal stepped closer to Sonic, his rival practically frozen in the spot. Arii continued to watch the two from her spot on the ground. Sonic still didn't know if he heard that correctly, his eyes watching Metal's approach like a hawk but none of his muscles working.

"**I am basing this information off of what you have stated as your description of 'love'.**" Metal crossed his arms, looking away shyly.

Sonic's mouth opened, then closed again, struggling to find his next words. "Y-... you actually.... feel all of that.... for me?" his throat kept closing on him, he's never been such a nervous wreck before.

The robot simply nodded once.

Sonic took a deep breath and released it to calm his racing heart. He was right full of fear... not because of Metal supposedly 'loving' him... but because he thinks... he might.... 'love' him back; and he didn't even realize this until the bot said that. "O-oh..." it was a sharp change, like a dagger to his spine. All their fighting and battles and _this_ was what Metal felt for him all along? The robot just didn't know how to act on it or even interpret it? Was he enabling him by teaching him emotions?

The hedgehog could only stare at the ground, not knowing his next actions. "I uh.... I-"

"**Can we cuddle now?**" the robot just had zero shame as he cut the blue blur off, none of this seemed to be bothering him in the slightest.

Sonic flattened his ears, rubbing at his arm. This was all way too sudden, his mind and emotions couldn't keep up. "I... think we're done for today actually...."

The robot seemed to look down sadly. Sonic noticing this and, not wanting to ruin the headway they made today in regards to emotions, he quickly added "B-but I.... will continue to uh... teach you.... this........ uh............. stuff......" he didn't know how to even form a proper sentence anymore, but the words made the robot perk up again.

"**Yes, I am so far finding use for this information. I have much to process and apply this newfound data to previously logged factors.**" the mech willing to change the topic just the slightest.

"G-great... heh... eh.... Um.... tell you what though." Sonic began. "I want to bring Arii back to my house now like I said I planned to... so... uh.... I'm going to take her there because I think she's ready. I-I'm telling you this because I don't think we'll meet up at this garden anymore since we only did so for her. Instead we'll... go to, uh... my house next..." This was a horrible idea.

In truth Sonic wanted to call this whole thing off and sleep for a year, but he tried to push past his anxieties and the butterflies in his stomach to pull through to reach his initial goal. He WILL get Metal to learn all there is... or at least most of it...

Metal nodded to the hedgehog. "**Affirmative. I will reroute my destination input. Awaiting location data.**"

It took Sonic a moment to realize that Metal basically just asked where he lives. "Oh, uh.... the coast-line of the north mountain is where you'll find my own private residence.... you'll find me and Arii there."

"**Acknowledged.**" He watched as Sonic picked said chao up into his arms, her cuteness momentarily distracting him.

He approached Sonic, making the hedgehog freeze nervously and give off a confused and wary look. Metal moved his hand to pat the chao on the head, prompting Sonic to feel relieved and even smile, glad that the robot was catching on rather quickly to this kind of thing. The chao giggled and grabbed onto the robots finger, the mech beeping amusingly at the act before Arii let him go.

Metal soon took off without a farewell, leaving Sonic to deal with Arii. He knew getting her to his home would take a while... he didn't want to stress her by running at his typical speeds, so he ended up walking his way out of the garden. He looked back at the garden to see the chaos curiously looking at him, a couple waving goodbye. He also could've sworn some kind of hand formed from the pooled water and waved farewell to him. He should've known Chaos was always around, guarding the chaos.

Sonic headed to his home with Arii in tow, and had a very long night allowing her to adjust to it as well as starting some training to ensure she remained safe in the house and didn't cause trouble.... it truly was a long night.

  


\----

  


Following the next morning, a very tired Sonic laid sprawled across his living room couch, heavy bags under his eyes after a terribly long night of keeping watch over Arii. The little chao was sleeping now, thank Chaos. He had to keep her from getting too excited and knocking things over and getting into potentially dangerous situations... he almost had a heart attack when she almost flushed herself in the toilet.

Sonic sighed, knowing that teaching her right from wrong was just a process and he'd get there eventually. Right now she was still really young and needed to develop her learning skills still. The blue hedgehog laid his ears back, his eyelids growing heavy again. Maybe since she's asleep he can afford at least a couple of hours of sleep. He closed his eyes ready to doze off.

A loud knocking at the door made him fall off the couch in a panic, his nerves shot. He hopped up to his feet and shook his head as if he could knock the sleep out of him. He made his way over to the door, praying that the knocking didn't wake up Arii. The door swung wide to reveal his robot duplicate on the other side, fist raised as if to knock once again.

"Oh.. you found me after all huh?" Sonic smiled lopsidedly.

"**Hello. Good morning.**" the robot stepped forward and suddenly embraced Sonic in a hug, catching the mobian off guard.

"Uh..." the speedster blushed in confusion. "What are you doing?..."

Metal released him. "**I was giving you a hug in greeting. I will be sure to limit these 'hugs' to more appropriate times.**"

Sonic lowered an ear, his heart pounding in his chest from the intimate act. "Uhh... I guess.. a hug in greeting is appropriate, yeah... make-... make yourself at home." he stepped aside, the robot clanking his way in with each step.

Sonic winced. "Keep it down maybe, Arii is sleeping and it took me all night just to get her to do so."

Metal looked to his feet before turning to Sonic. He paused for a moment before tilting his head. "**Why are you wearing eye-liner?**"

Sonic gave a confused look. "Wh-... eye-liner? I'm not wearing..."

Metal's optics suddenly panned down, switching over to a reflective surface not unlike some strange mirror eye-lids of sorts. Sonic jerked his head back, not knowing the robot could even do that, but he suddenly became shocked at the look of his own face in the reflection. He looked like he just crawled up from the grave.

"Oh man..." he peered closer into the mirrors. "I look awful." his attention shifted to a pair of eyes just barely visible underneath the reflective surface, looking into his own eyes. Sonic blushed and quickly backed off, Metal retracting back the mirrors, his eyes shifting up and down the hedgehog.

"**Are you ill?**" the robot questioned.

Sonic shook his head, closing the front door before moving to seat himself back on the couch. "No, I just hardly slept at all last night... Arii is a massive handful." he sighed. "She keeps running all over the place and messing with things... it's kind of troublesome really."

The mech tilted his head. "**Have you tried turning it off and on?**"

Sonic wiped a hand down his face. "Metal for-"

A sudden noise from the next room over drew both of their attention. Sonic blinked before quickly getting up and running over to the room. Arii was trying to climb out of her makeshift crib. The hedgehog groaned knowing he won't be able to sleep now that she's up. Metal walked over to stand in the doorframe, earning the hedgehogs attention.

Sonic lowered a brow in thought. "Hey Metal..."

"**Hello again.**" the robot responded wondering why Sonic was greeting him a second time.

Sonic resisted the urge to face palm. "Look, can you maybe watch over Arii for... maybe.. a couple of hours or so? I really need some sleep and I don't want her getting hurt."

Metal Sonic turned to look over the chao who was trying to hop out of her bed, eager to go and play again. Red eyes turned to gaze back into emerald ones. "**Negative.**"

"What? Why not!?" the speedster crossed his arms with a huff.

"**You are perfectly present and available to do so yourself. I have only come here to learn more about these 'emotions'.**"

Sonic felt crestfallen at this. "What are you talking about? I can't watch her at all, I'm tired, I'm exhausted both physically and emotionally, I need your help Metal!" he was beginning to feel overwhelmed.

Metal crossed his arms defiantly. "**Negative! I am not your lacky and you are not my master.**"

The hedgehog felt tears welling in his eyes, the frustration and stress as well as the lack of sleep starting to get to him. "Metal PLEASE, I'm so tired, I just..." Sonic's voice cracked. He put a hand to his temple, trying to get a hold of himself.

Metal dropped his arms noticing Sonic's sudden emotional state. "**...**" he suddenly felt... upset at himself? No... guilt? He couldn't pinpoint this feeling but it felt awful and he suddeny felt the urge to apologize.... these were never feelings he's had to deal with before.

"Please Metal?" Sonic begged, looking at the mech with tear-filled eyes.

The robot didn't exactly know what to do... was this a test? Was he being trained right now or something? Something told him this was real though. "**I... am sorry.**" he apologized for a start.

Sonic tried to wipe away the tears from his eyes. It was probably a bad idea to try and bring a chao into his house... usually when he'd raise them it would always be in the gardens so he never had to worry about them like this to the point of no sleep. It was a horrible decision but... he wanted to stick to it. He just couldn't do it alone.

Metal stepped towards his rival and hesitantly placed a hand on the hedgehog's shoulder. "**I will watch over the chao. You require sleep.**" he relented.

Sonic released a sigh, a small smile of relief managing to form on his muzzle as he rubbed at his eyes. "Thanks...."

The mobian slowly made his way out of the room to his own, Metal waiting until he heard the door of what he presumed to be Sonic's bedroom close. He looked to the floor for a moment, wondering what that was all about before he turned to the makeshift crib.

Arii had been watching the scene through the bars, a paw to her mouth with a questionmark over her head. Metal approached her and reached in to pick her up into his arms, remembering to raise his core's temperature again to mimic the warmth of an organic.

He carried her out and back into the living room where he placed her down on the floor and seated himself upon the couch, his eyes observing her as she seemed to be wondering what to do, now that she was out of her crib.

She stood up to look around innocently. She seemed to be figuring out where she was and what she could potentially do here for fun. Metal didn't know if she had any toys to play with or just how exactly Sonic entertains her, so he just watched her as she wandered about for a bit on the floor in front of him.

Suddenly she stopped and an exclamation mark formed above her head. She begam crawling over to the kitchen corner. Metal eyed her as she made a bee-line to the bottom cupboards. He tilted his head wondering just what she was doing. Arii reached up to one of the cupboard knobs and struggled to pull on it. She managed to open the cupboard and stood before it for a moment peering in it. She then crawled inside where she slipped through and disappeared behind a bunch of pots and pans.

"**...**"

Metal bolted off of the couch and quickly rushed over to the cupboard and peered inside, moving the pots and pans aside to get her. Wait... where did she go? Arii wasn't behind the pots anymore. His eyes surveyed inside the cupboard... she wasn't in here anymore? How is that possible? She couldn't have just disappeared.... he didn't see her come out at all, only go in.

Metal suddenly started to panic already. He crawled deeper into the cupboards, moving aside the pots with a clammer, trying not to make too much noise to keep Sonic from sleeping or making him worry. Where did she go!?

He pulled himself out of the cupboard and looked around frantically. She just vanished! He immediately started taking out the pots and pans one by one, she had to still be in there! Meanwhile a certain chao was crawling away behind him towards the hallway. Metal continued to pull out everything and when it was revealed she just wasn't in there at all, he started opening the lids of all the pots.

"**Where did you go?**" he panicked, hoping his voice, however electronic, would incur some kind of response from her.

Metal brought his hands to his head, horrified that he _already_ lost the chao and it hasn't even been 2 minutes yet. Sonic wasn't kidding when he said she was a handful. He started putting all of the pots and pans back into the cupboard quickly when he determined that she wasn't in any of them. He had just closed the cupboard when...

A sound from another room snapped his gaze over to the source. He bolted for the hallway, halting briefly in it to look left and right trying to determine where the sound was coming from. He heard the noise again and followed after it, coming into what was revealed to be Sonic's bathroom.

His eyes darted everywhere and he began to bend over multiple times looking behind the toilet, in the tub, underneath the sink. The sound then once again noised out and he looked up above to find the chao on the towel shelf, said towels being kicked off and falling on top the robot. Metal panicked as it blocked his vision and he threw the towels off of him to the floor, quickly activating his jet to fly up and grab her.

But she was crawling inside of an open vent just above the shelf!? Metal freaked out and quickly flew up higher hurriedly reaching an arm into the vent to grab her but it was too late, she was too deep inside the tunnel and he couldn't reach her. He strained to try and reach in further before pulling back and peering inside to see the last half of her body disappearing out of view as she took a turn left further into a bend of the ventilation.

Metal reeled back, gripping his head in his hands with a series of horrified beeping as he flew out of the room and then out the front door, veering around the house to where he assumes the vent will lead. He quickly activates his scanners to try and detect the lay out of the ventilation. A red grid of the detected metallic structure came into view but he had no idea where Arii was inside of it, for some reason he can't detect the life signatures of chaos... what are they?.

He was right though in that the vent lead out to this side of the house. So he flew over to the exit side of the vent, noticing it's grate was missing and waited for Arii to come crawling out to it....

... and he waited....

... and waited some more...

The longer he waited the more he began to panic even further. He looked around wondering if she already slipped out before he got here, but that's impossible... she can't be that fast can she?

He waited longer...

... and even longer....

He activated his scanners again but didn't pick up anything noticable. He looked around to the back of the house, then the other side, then he looked to the surrounding woods. He froze when he saw something pale blue move past the trees. SHE ESCAPED! Metal quickly sped off after her and weaved through the trees to where he saw her, but she wasn't here anymore.

He zipped around back and forth from one spot to the next trying to search for her. He scanned through the forest, swerving over and under hanging branches and fallen trees, looking from stone to stone. Her kind is naturally wild, he should've known she would try to escape into the woods!

Metal's circuits were going haywire in fear as he couldn't find her anywhere. He searched further and further into the woods, and further still. Every time he thinks he spots her and flies over to her, she's not there anymore. He knows that Sonic said he wanted to grow the chao to be a 'speedster' like him but this is ridiculous!

Minutes passed by, then several more. Metal continued looking through the woods from tree to tree, his efforts growing desperate as it started to rain. He tried to calm himself down remembering that chao are wild, they know how to survive in these conditions... right? But... what if the environment is specific to them in their gardens? What if Arii CAN'T survive this particular locations climate? What IS this particular locations climate? Where IS she!?

Metal was mostly horrified at what Sonic would think of him if he found out that he lost their chao. Metal will have definitely failed the challenge at this point... wait who even CARES about the dumb challenge? He doesn't even care about winning that anymore, right now he just wants to make sure Arii is safe.

The robot paused, halting in place. Wait.... he actually does care about her.... Metal suddenly realized what he'd been doing. He was panicking and freaking out for the past hour or so over something he initially felt nothing for... He brought a hand to his forehead. What is happening to him?

He shook his head. No, it doesn't matter, he still needs to find her.

The rain began to pelt down harder as it started to pour, it must've been over an hour in that he's been searching for Arii. He tried one last time to look through a couple of more places, but it was raining so hard that the mist was making it hard to see, plus the water kept dripping down his optics making it even more difficult to see.

Metal inclined his head in defeat and despair... he lost her. He actually lost her... he's never felt so awful in his entire life. He reluctantly began to make his way back to the house. What would he tell Sonic? HOW will he tell Sonic? His copy will never forgive him... heck Metal might not even be able to forgive himself.

The rain was growing to be a full out storm now as Metal returned to the house, dropping to the ground and deactivating his jet. He was trying to come up with a million things to say to Sonic as he opened the door and stepped inside. He let himself drip onto the door mat, raising his core temperature again and allowing the heat to dry him off, his posture still hunched with depression.

She's still out there, in the cold pouring rain. The robot wrapped his arms around himself in a self-hug. This must be what it feels like for organics when they're about to cry... he doesn't like these new emotions... he doesn't like these feelings... these connections he's making to living things. He made his way further into the living room, filled with regret.

Metal's eyes lifted up and he froze in stunned shock. Arii was sleeping on the couch, perfectly safe and sound all snuggled up against one of the pillows.

The robot beeped wildly with happiness and relief as he rushed over to her and immediately wrapped his arms around her, the chao only stirring slightly, fast asleep. Metal nuzzled his face up to her with a series of excited beeps sounding out. She's safe, oh thank Chaos she's safe. He has no idea what happened or what kind of little adventure she must have went on but it turns out she was safe in the house all along while he was out there worried to death about her.

All the electrical adrenaline through his circuits drained his power substantially and he felt so utterly exhausted from all that panicked exertion. He dropped to his knees, just leaning over the couch and holding the chao protectively in his arms on the cushions as his system forced him into sleepmode the very second he knew it was safe to relax, and he passed out alongside Arii.

Hours later Sonic eventually awoke to enter the living room, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes to come across the sight before him. Metal and Arii were sleeping together on the couch and Sonic could've sworn his heart would explode into a burst of sparkling glitter at the adorable sight. He couldn't believe his eyes, a smile forming over his features.

Metal groggily reactivated out from sleepmode as his system passively detected the newly present life signatures. His eyes looked over to Sonic who was smiling at him with a hand on his hip. Metal inclined his head, not even deeming it worth it to defend his dignity anymore.

"**... Alright.... maybe I do care about her.**" he admitted quietly as he released the chao to fall back onto his knees.

Sonic walked over to the robot and knelt down to him, the robot casting his gaze to the floor. The hedgehog suddenly held the robots face into his hands and planted a kiss on Metal's forehead, the robot's eyes dilating in surprise, his circuits overheating from the gesture.

Sonic looked into the mech's eyes and smiled. He then stood back up and headed over to the kitchen to make himself a late afternoon snack, leaving Metal still stunned on the floor. The badnik's eyes shifted over to Sonic.

Metal hoisted himself up onto his feet and quietly walked over to the hedgehog who was preparing a sandwich. The robot shuffled slightly beside him, as if hesitating to say something.

"**... I.... was wondering if.... perhaps..... I might be able to stay here for the night?**" Metal fidgeted with his fingers shyly, too embarrassed to make eye-contact with his rival.

Sonic hummed for a moment with an all-knowing smile as he continued to prepare his snack. He knew the moment he saw that sight of Metal with Arii that he really did have feelings for Metal, and he now felt confident with his decision to just accept it as is, instead of flusteredly behaving awkward over it in denial.

"I don't see why that would be a problem. Sure." he looked to the robot with a smile who glanced at him and then broke eye-contact shyly, before nodding in acknowledgement.

Metal remained to observe and even help Sonic make a snack, the robot joining him at the table for silent company as the hedgehog ate his sandwich, watching the patterns of rain dripping down the kitchen window.

"**Where shall I sleep? I do not want to be a bother.**" his duplicate broke the silence.

Sonic, still chewing his food, downed his bite before responding. "You can sleep with me on my bed, it's a pretty big bed so space won't be an issue..."

If Metal could blush he probably would as he looked away and nodded; these new feelings were strange. Sonic pointed a finger at him though "Keep that temperature thing up though, don't wanna make me cold now do you?" he smiled.

Metal quickly nodded. "**Affirmative.**"

Sonic chuckled quietly. When he finished his sandwich he cleaned up after himself. Metal followed him as he moved over to the couch to pick the still-sleeping Arii up into his arms. He carried her over back into her room and gently placed her into her crib where she remained fast asleep.

The two then went into Sonic's bedroom, the hedgehog crawling up onto the bed with an awkward and hesitant Metal seemingly awaiting orders at the foot of it. Sonic lowered a brow with a confused smile before patting the spot next to him on the bed.

Metal flinched in understanding and hurriedly made his way over to the other side of the bed and crawled onto it. He looked to Sonic who was laying back, relaxed on top of the sheets with his hands folded over his stomach. Metal decided to copy and mimic this, doing the same as he laid back and folded his own hands over his 'stomach'.

Metal stared up at the ceiling, his eyes occasionally darting over to Sonic and back at the ceiling multiple times before he held his gaze to the hedgehog next to him. "**May I have that long hug now?**"

Sonic chuckled. "You mean... cuddling?"

Metal turned over slightly. "**Negative... only lovers do that.... this is just... a very long hug. Correct?**"

Sonic smirked. "If you say so." he sat up a little bit as Metal rolled over to lay an arm across him and embrace him in a 'hug'. The robot nuzzled his face under the hedgehogs chin. "**Unless... we **_**are**_** lovers?**" the mech hesitated.

The blue blur smiled warmly, resting a hand on Metal's head. "Well... let's see...."

"... I get really excited when I see you.... I enjoy talking to you..."

"I want to keep you safe and protected... I want you to be mine...."

"I miss you when you're gone... I feel connected to you..."

Sonic tilted his head to look Metal in the eyes with a smile. "And I like everything about you...."

The robot softly beeped approvingly, burying his face further into the hedgehog. "**These new emotions that I am developing... they are still so new to me, but I feel like they may be what I have been lacking all along in regards to our rivalry. The supposed hatred I have felt for you this whole time may have been a stand-in for my lack of these emotions... this whole time it was something else, but I did not have such emotions available then to interpret it."**

Metal seemed like he'd been bottling up these self-discoveries for the past week. **"I hope that we can explore this further to improve on this development... I also really do want to properly raise our chao to be happy and healthy... it is not some challenge to me anymore, it is a desire."**

  


The mech turned his head, still resting atop the blue hedgehog, and looked up to his cuddle buddy. **"... I love you.... Sonic.**"

  


Sonic's smile grew at Metal using his name for the first time, his heart aflutter as well with the robot's confessions.

  


  


  


  


  


"I love you too... Metal."

  


  



End file.
